A twin-axial cable (or “twinax” cable) is a physical communication medium having two balanced inner conductors encapsulated by an outer shield. The two balanced inner conductors allow the twinax cable to be used for transmitting differential signals, while the outer shield isolates electrical signals carried on the inner conductors from external noise and interference. For example, FIG. 1 shows a conventional transmission configuration 100 for a twinax cable 110. The twinax cable 110 includes a first inner conductor 101, a second inner conductor 102, and an outer shield 103. Because the outer shield 103 isolates the inner conductors 101 and 102 from external noise and interference, it is typically coupled to ground potential. A voltage source 104, coupled between the first inner conductor 101 and the second inner conductor 102, generates differential signals for transmission through twinax cable 110. Thus, twinax cable 110 may transmit a single set of data signals using differential signaling.
Because twinax cables are relatively inexpensive, they are becoming more widely used in modern high-speed differential signal transmission applications. For example, some 10G Ethernet systems transmit differential signals over twinax cables. Although fiber optic cables can provide faster data rates than copper-based mediums, fiber optic cables are expensive and may require additional front-end transceiver circuitry to implement within a network environment. Accordingly, there is a need for a cost-effective way to increase data transmission rates of twinax cables.